3 Effective Chinese Medicines

If you want to get your hands on some effective Chinese medicine and don’t know of any, you need to read this.

This post is a response to a rant over at Lost Laowai by Ryan about ineffective Chinese medicine. It’s a good read that will let you know about some of the stranger Chinese medicines out there that likely have little positive effect (and perhaps unintended negative effects). Yet while there is plenty of junk out there among TCM™, there are also a number of not-so-hidden gems that work wonders.

At first I was a bit wary of this kind of medicine – after all, who knows what’s inside – but after several applications I was hooked. If you ever have an aching neck or a pounding headache, applying liberal amounts of this through massage & rubbing will usually do wonders for your pain.

Although you can buy this brand of magical Chinese oil (this is my name for the stuff) anywhere, the most pure forms are supposedly made in Hong Kong and Singapore.

This is also a great relaxant if you can’t get to sleep – and a great way to score bonus points with your significant other by using it when they are most tired or pained.

Stinky Balls – (喇叭)正露丸 – Okay, so stinky balls is not the greatest translation. Yet this is how I think of this Chinese medicine, because they really do stink.

While you might be skeptical of their curative effects at first, stinky balls are actually quite effective – they help relieve diarrhea, stomach cramps, problems that creep up from moving to a new country (where the water is different), and more.

The only problem is taking them. If you are trying them for the first time, it might be best to hold your nose while you wash the stinky balls down with your favorite beverage.

Chinese Cough Syrup – (京都念慈菴)川贝枇杷膏 – That’s about the best way to describe this medicine. It isn’t quite as astonishingly effective as the above two medicines, but it often works.

One trick you might like to know is if you are caught up in the middle of a coughing fit, cut a slice of ginger and just let it sit in between your cheek and back teeth. Along with the Chinese cough syrup above, this should be enough to keep you from coughing.

I’ve been taking some chinese medicine for my current bug. They gave me antibiotics two local remedies. One of them is “Fufang jiegeng zhike pian” or lobelia according to the picture on the packaging and some Google translations — it doesn’t seem to do anything symptomatic but when I take it, I improve slowly, and when I stop I cough like crazy, so I’m guessing it’s the equivalent of guaifenesin, mucinex — an expectorant, a mucus thinner. These things do help you get better faster in non-obvious ways.

The other one is “fufang cao shan hu han pian” — which means, get this, menthol lozenges! Like any menthol lozenges anywhere. Except more Chinese-medicine-y in the packaging and shape. They have some other ingredients too, but they just seem to work like menthol lozenges to me.

5|Winnie says:

Those three are very famous old brands of Chinese medicines. I like the Chinese Cough Syrup-(京都念慈菴)川贝枇杷膏 because it’s also tasty..

6|tammy says:

stinky balls smell so bad the dog covers it’s nose to try to keep from smelling it. Really tho’ my tummy is always grouchy and my friend gave me some and today I feel better. She swears by this stuff. SMELLY